One day, putting all his gold and pearls into a pot, he buried it and went to sleep with his head placed where the pot was buried. The very same night, the snake bit him as well. When his screams rang out, his neighbours, relatives and friends rushed to his house. Seeing his condition, all of them said, ‘You hesitated to kill the snake and put your own life at stake falling prey to greed.’ Ashamed, the greedy person could say nothing. He then dug out the pot full of gold and handed it over to them. Seeing it, all of them said, ‘Today, this wealth cannot benefit you at all because it will now go to others.’ Then after a short while, that greedy person also died. (‘Uyoon-ul-Hikayaat, pp. 439; summarised)

صَلُّوۡا عَلَى الۡحَبِيۡب              صَلَّى اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى عَلٰى مُحَمَّد

Dear Islamic brothers! Did you see that greed of wealth ruined a happy family. Certainly, a greedy person lacks vision. He only sees the temporary benefit of a thing and is unable to make correct decisions, suffering losses. The abovementioned parable shows that the head of household had many opportunities to avoid the risk. At first, the snake bit his goat and donkey. It was sufficient to ring the alarm bell. He should have become alert, may have avoided the greed for wealth and would have made proper arrangements in order to remain safe from such tragic incidents in future. But regretfully! He ignored the incident instead of drawing some lesson from it because he was intoxicated by the greed of golden eggs. Therefore, taking full advantage of the heedlessness of this person, the snake killed his son and wife as well. Despite being advised by his brothers and friends, he did not kill the snake due to greed. As a result, he himself also met his doom.

صَلُّوۡا عَلَى الۡحَبِيۡب              صَلَّى اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى عَلٰى مُحَمَّد

‘Greed’ has been referred to in these words in Ayah 128 of Surah An-Nisa in part 5 of the Glorious Quran: